Yeah I love my 4v. It's awesome! Tons of power, lot's of kick. But it's got one problem, and the severity is unknown. It shuts off randomly. Usually when I'm driving on highway or something like it. First time it happened was on I-25 coming back from the racetrack (Bandimere) in May, then it happened again in September after coming back from the track...and again lastnight on my way home with the lady-friend. It locks the steering-wheel and the brakes stick if you press them down. It's something about when I shift out of fifth gear when cruising around 60mph it kills the engine. It's almost like the engine is tired so it decided to take a nap, you know? Very frightning. I know some guys are afraid to say when they're about the shi- their pants, but oh hell yeah I was there. I'm sitting here on Foothills parkway (at 65mph) getting close to my exit and there is a branching off lane for that turn that goes on for a while. I turn into that lane, shift out of fifth and the car dies. I tap the brakes and the car lunges forward, so I turn on the car (twist the key again) wait for it to fire up and turn out of the way of the approaching ditch that we got maybe 3 feet from flying into at 50mph. I've mentioned this problem on the boards before but no luck finding out what it is. I love my car, and all. But I don't love my car to death because I fear it may take that saying literally. lol

So depending on if it keeps happening, trading is a real possibility.

Anyone want to take a stab at helping me diagnose this? Would a clogged fuel filter or injector do this??

 

that's a tune problem or a bad connection on a sensor, possibly a vacuum leak but I doubt that. If I was closer I could be more help.

 

that may be an oil pressure switch issue!

I know my car don't want to run or idle when the factory oil gauge shows no pressure. Although there is pressure on the aftermarket gauge, the factory gauge shows it taking a dump. So what I'm saying is the factory oil pressure switch on my 96 must be conected to the computer some how. When the factory gauge shows nothing, so does my engine,.....but that's on a cold engine.

Now my '95 Crown Vic (5spd baby) would do some what of the same as yours, but more often and at any time. I replaced only my MAF meter with an autozone special and it has not done it since.

Hope this helps

 

Yeah, it's just real odd how it happens. It's happened when shifting out of 5th four times (last time being lastnight), 4th once and 3rd once...The only similarities that I can think of are how it only happens when I shift out of gear and get off of the gas. It doesn't happen when accelerating, just when I was to slow down. I clutch in, take it out of gear, keep the clutch in to prepare for the downshift when I get slow enough to take a turn or whatever, and tap the brakes. Although the second time it happened was while shifting from 5th to 4th on the highway because it was poor weather and thick traffic....

I really need to find out what this is because of the time of year. The roads get icy and whatnot, and I can't not have control of my car especially going as fast as I was.

 

Be careful King... if i knew anything I could probably be of some help. J/K I was in a situation like that with my Olds' Cutlass and I know what you mean about how scary it is. So seriously be careful, you could end up like Stephen.

 

I am. I do believe I'm the only member on these boards that drives the speed limit by choice, and actually just under the limit on highways and anything 60+mph. I just don't want to get caught in a bad situation. I mean if there was ice in the turn lane lastnight, I have no doubt the car would have been totaled, and we'd be in either dead or a world of pain. I don't like thinking that way, hence the reason this thread is here.

 

Just trade it in for a 2010 and add a supercharger.

 

My dad bought a brand new f 150 4.2l v6 5 speed 4x4 in 97 that he traded in because it would randomly shut off when driving like someone took the ingniton and turned it off and It would take like 3 trys to get it to restart. It was under warranty and the dealer couldn't figure it out or duplicate the problem.

 

I would agree sounds like a ecu connection or some sensor is bad or going bad. There are a few things that can happen to cause the car to shut off.

Has the dealer seen this car for this problem? first thing I would wanna do is check the connection on the ecu and make sure all fuses are good, and ground's are good.

 

I sent an email to the dealer...trying to setup a time for them to check it out and I'm trying to swing a couple dyno runs too *fingers crossed*

 

Your dealer has a dyno? lol

 

Yup.

 

Does the car like to idle? Maybe the IAC isn't operating at it's best. Maybe some other sensor is just taking a dump. However, I had a similar situation where 2 summers ago my car had problems until it went into closed loop (or open, which ever is when the car warms up), it would not only stumble and buck but would just shut off, even when cruising at speed. My solution was new spark plugs. My advice to you is to check the individual sensors to make sure they're good, check to make sure the tune is fine, check to make sure that the engine is getting the right amount of fuel and spark when the rpms drop, check the tune, check the electrical connections and if all else fails, just hope it doesn't.

 

My car idles at a stop perfectly. Around 600-750rpms. While driving it sounds smells and runs perfectly, then just out of the blue she dies. I'll check the electrical stuff tomorrow morning, but unfortunately I can't check the tune because I don't have a tuner, so I'll have to wait on that.

 

Not sure if it helps but it's a start. SVTP had a thread about common Mach issues and 1 guy mentioned a TSB for random stalling when cruising.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums...d.php?t=463534

 

Found some similar stories on mach-1.org.

This dude (and several others that concur) ended up fixing it with a new fuel pump after several other attempts.

http://www.mach-1.org/vbulletin/show...4&page=1&pp=15

If you don't want to read the 5 pages....hsi final answer came on page 4

 

It's going to the stealership tomorrow morning to see if they can do anything.

 

Alright, I took the car to the stealership about an hour ago. They think it's a tune problem because of the addition of the JLT R/CAI, but I should know for sure around 2pm EST

 

do your RPMs dip pretty low when you shift?

 

Yeah. It's all figured out.

My IAC sensor is about dead, my MAF was pretty clogged up, along with one of my injectors, and the JLT throttle body boot was loose, so when I'd shift and the engine would shake more air was coming in, killing the motor. I'm also getting a new fuel filter and they're cleaning my intake (which was the plan for today already, so whatever). Unfortunately my parents won't let me fix these things, so we're spending $500+ on it...

...hooray

 

Dealerships aren't selling cars so they try to make up for it by charging butt loads of money for service, and make up phony problems.

If i were you, i'd inspect all the problems myself before handing over the money.

 

If I could, I would, but it's already being "repaired"...

 

Haha, then they take your car out for a "test drive" to see if everything is working properly.

 

Just got the car back, feels great. Feels stronger, I think they may have retuned it. I'll ask when I go back to get touchup paint tomorrow. Once I get the touchup paint, the dealer sticker on the back is going off, too.

 

The sad part about it is that happens to me. When I go for an alignment, for the test drive, I ALWAYS hear the car pulling hard. Then you got to love when they park it, they never put the e-brake on.

 

Sounds like they gave it a good look through. When you go back, ask if they data logged your fuel pressure just to make sure it was within range. I would think if it were your fuel pump, it would rear it's head with less than a half tank of gas, during a longer drive at a higher RPM/Gear. If those factors fit into your stalling issue, I would want to double check since there has been a admitted fault with some of the Mach fuel pumps. You mentioned before that it idled and ran great (except when it dies) and each of those items (except for maybe the clogged MAF) would show itself at idle and would be somewhat consistant over the RPM range I would think? Glad it's fixed aither way and between various sensors and a computer, along with some of our own modifications, anything can happen.

 

it feels stronger because you dont have un-metered air entering you motor and ******* with its tune. i had a good suspicion that this was MAF related since on my car if i didnt have all of my piping clamped down tight the car would stall when i would come to a stop. since you have a manual you shifting is like me coming to a stop in my auto car.

example if you had a blower on your car and had these same issues i would of been all over a loose pipe after the MAF or your IAC values are too low and need to be brought up for part throttle driving.

 

Yeah so here is a list of the things they did to it....

Changed fuel filter, cleaned air filter, cleaned maf, re-adjusted the iac, and injector flush.

If the weather was better I'd love to be driving, but there is 3-1/2'' of snow and more falling. I was supposed to pick up the touch-up paint today, but there is no way in hell my car is driving in this weather today.

 

glad to hear things worked out for you. It sounds like you had lots of little things adding up to your problem. My guess would have been the tune. My mach used to stall every now and again when I'd come to a stop, but changed my fuel filter, took it back to my tuner and it was perfect.

 

Yeah I'm really glad that whole ordeal is over, too. Especially today...I was out and about and all of a sudden BLIZZARD. Had I still had that problem, I would've most definitely ended up in a ditch a few times today.